Ethan Adams

Prologue

My mom is like Barney: she believes the power of friendship is the strongest force of them all. So the day after we moved into our cushy little San Diego neighbourhood, she took me and my older brother Alex around to introduce us to the neighbours. My mom's huge on brunch and since we moved all the way from Sacramento, she was kinda desperate to find friends.

My brother threw a tantrum after we visited three houses and my mom made him go back home. I on the other hand was very eager to please her and I played up to all the neighbours, pretending to be this angelic kid. My mom was so happy with me that she promised to take me to get a happy meal.

The last house we went to was the one directly across the street. A woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes answered the door. She looked a little upset but she put on a smile for me and my mom.

"Hi!" My mom put her hand out to introduce herself. "I'm Lisa Anderson and this is my daughter Alisa. We just moved in right across the street."

The woman smiled and shook my mom's hand. "Hello, I'm Sidney Adams. It's nice to meet you both."

They started talking while I kept up my façade of being this well behaved child, staying faithfully by my mom's side. There were a few toys scattered on the floor on the porch, including a red fire truck.

"You know, I have a son that's six too, he's going to be seven in November." Sidney said.

"Really? Alisa's been dying to make new friends, is he here?" My mom said.

Sidney nodded and then turned around. "Ethan!" She shouted into the house. Seconds later, a kid a lot taller than me with the same dark hair as his mom came running to the door. He didn't look towards me or my mom at all, keeping his eyes trained on his own mother.

"What?"

"Say hello to our new neighbours. This is Mrs Anderson and this is Alisa."

He looked at the red fire truck and mumbled out a hello. Our moms went back to talking to each other and he came outside, making a beeline for the fire truck. I decided that I was in fact dying to make a new friend and went over to where he sat making alarm sounds.

"Hi." I said.

He looked up at me and at first I didn't say anything because I thought his eyes were pretty. They start off grey near his pupil and then darken until they're a deep blue in a sort of ombre effect.

"I'm Alisa." I said. He looked back at his fire truck and then stuck his tongue out at me, showing off the huge gap between his front two teeth.

Because I thought he was playing around with me, I giggled. He ended up smiling and then stood up. "My name is Ethan."

Feeling proud of myself, I stuck my hand out for a shake like my mom did. "Do you want to be friends?"

Ethan stared at my hand for a very long time before frowning. "No."

Then he blew a raspberry and ran back into the house.

And this was the beginning of the rest of my life.

***

a/n; rewrite gang